I need a nap. There. I’ve said it. Growing up, my mother used to take a nap every weekend afternoon on our living room couch instead of in her room (which she still does to this day and still makes no sense as to why she wouldn’t want to sleep in her own bed). I used to think she was nuts taking a nap in the afternoon. Once I hit my 30’s however, I began to not only appreciate, but DEPEND on my daily naps.
After having my children, those first few years were a sleepless blur and so I would tell myself that the naps I took them were make-up sessions for so many nights of blurry eyed mom duty. It’s harder to sell this idea now that they are in school.
Part of my need for a nap stems from my Ulcerative Colitis…when it’s flaring…which, it currently isn’t. So WHY do I need the nap? Yes, I’m still anemic and ‘recovering’ and going off my wonderful energy packed steroids, but it’s ticking me off that my eyes start to drag after lunch. You see, taking a 20 min power nap would be no problem for me. Heck, I’d take 2 or 3 of those a day. But alas, I’m a terrible fall-asleeper. In order to get a 20 min nap, I need to have at least an hour and 15 min of ‘nap time.’ Extremely frustrating when you are trying to stay on a writing/work/housecleaning schedule when you only have a 6 hour window of child free time in which to accomplish it all.
So, although I need a nap, I will not get one today. It is already 1:30 so there isn’t enough time to sleep before school is done. I knew I shouldn’t have shampooed my rugs.
Which leads me to ask: What do YOU do to fight off a nap? I clearly need some tips.
Danielle Bannister, Author 